Local congressman calls Medicare for All a dangerous idea

As one of the highest ranking members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Republican Congressman Kevin Brady is emphasizing his record of bipartisanship, while striving to protect Americans from “dangerous ideas.”

Brady, who represents Texas’ 8th congressional district, spent Wednesday in Huntsville talking about current legislation, as well as future legislation that he sees as a threat to the health of rural hospitals and communities.

“It’s not easy to keep healthcare at home in a rural community … The further away you get from a large city, the more difficult it is,” Brady said at a town hall meeting with the Walker County Hospital District. “We have had a long history of those challenges with Huntsville Memorial Hospital, so we are spending a lot of time with our local hospitals to find out how we can help.”

Much of Wednesday’s town hall surrounded the proposed “Medicare for All” legislation, which would give everyone in America comprehensive healthcare coverage from the government.

“People love medicare, but when you go deeper, this bill has impacts on healthcare that most Americans don’t want to see happen,” Brady said. “Our healthcare system is miraculous, but our system does have problems. My thought is to keep what's working with healthcare going and fix what's broken. We shouldn’t throughout the whole system and give unlimited control of our healthcare to Washington.

The Lonestar State has seen 24 rural hospitals close in recent years, which included the closure of Timberlands Hospital in Crockett and East Texas Medical Center in Trinity.

Brady also took time on Wednesday to talk about a few bills that he has co-sponsored and are currently going through the House’s Committee on Ways and Means. One of those bills are H.R. 2113, dubbed the STAR Act, which Brady says would crackdown on overpriced drugs.

“Some of these drugs are dramatically overpriced and there is no reason for it,” Brady said. “It can’t be justified, so the STAR Act requires drug companies to justify their price increases.”

Brady also discussed H.R. 3417, the BETTER Act, which the congressman says will focus on getting reimbursements correct for healthcares and physicians in rural areas.

“There are a lot of good ideas in Washington that we can come together and work on,” Brady said. “But I think some plans are dangerous to the health of our communities, and those are the issues that I am fighting,”

“Texans will pay more and wait longer for worse healthcare. The plan cancels millions of plans for workers, seniors and children, and is so costly that it will bankrupt America.”

According to Brady, companies will be banned from offering healthcare to its workers, which he says would see 600,000 citizens in the 8th congressional district and 21 million workers across the state of Texas would lose their healthcare.

“If this bill becomes law 160 million Americans will be put on Medicare and that is already a shaky system that can’t withstand it,” Brady added. “The impacts here at home will be huge, as it will lead to doctor shortages and massive cuts to reimbursements for local hospitals.

ICMYI: Yesterday, I joined Farmers for Free Trade at the #Rally4USMCA with my colleagues from both parties to urge Congress to pass the USMCA, ASAP!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7N2KjIQiJc&feature=youtu.be